Metro News & Reviews

Transportation headlines, Tuesday, June 19

Here is a look at some of the transportation headlines gathered by us and the Metro Library. The full list of headlines is posted on the Library’s Headlines blog, which you can also access via email subscription or RSS feed.

Phase one of the Expo Line will now be complete with the opening of Farmdale and the phase one terminus in Culver City. Patrons boarding at those two stations will receive free passes to use the Expo Line all day on Wednesday. Culver City is hosting its Summer Solstice event tomorrow, too, so there’s plenty to do near the new station.

Dana Gabbard opines that this project is important for a lot of reasons — in particular the symbolic value that it shows that the region will really give priority and precious road space to transit. At this point it appears the project is scheduled for a 2014 completion — a 2015 date was floated by the city of L.A. — with the possibility of segments opening in mid-2013.

The private firm Coach America that is contracted to run inter-city bus service in Ventura County has said it may no longer be able to provide the service due to its bankruptcy filing. Officials are trying to find an alternative. About 1,500 riders would be impacted. Reminder: those in Ventura County who use the bus to reach Warner Center could take Metrolink to the new Orange Line Extension beginning in July.

It’s astonishing that the the Wilshire Rush Hour Bus Lanes project could finish behind Expo Line Phase 2 and Gold Line Foothills Extension. NIMBYs must really be the only true complexity to transportation infrastructure.